Conference a platform to strengthen Malaysia’s volunteering infrastructure

KUALA LUMPUR: The 15th International Association for Volunteer Effort ( IAVE) Asia Pacific Regional Volunteer Conference, scheduled for November this year, is a great opportunity for Malaysia to strengthen its volunteering infrastructure and environment.

Yayasan Salam’s Board of Trustees member, Datuk Yong Soo Heong said while Malaysia had a healthy volunteering landscape, the work of Malaysian volunteers were still very diverse and scattered.

“This conference can mobilise these groups into a single force in reaching out to the community and be more cohesive in their efforts.

“It will also give a better snapshot of our volunteering landscape, so we can put them (volunteering groups and organisations) together and gauge how strong we are (in the volunteering field),” he told reporters after launching the conference,here, yesterday.

Yong said the conference would also be a perfect platform for Malaysian volunteers to learn best volunteering practices from other countries and broaden their volunteering networks.

“So, with this conference, we will be moving forward in terms of volunteering. We want our volunteers to look outward, not inward,” Yong said, adding that the conference was expected to attract some 350 international volunteers and 700 local volunteers.

The conference, the first of its kind to be held in Malaysia, is organised by IAVE and Yayasan Salam.

It will kick off with the Asia Pacific Youth Volunteer Conference from Nov 22-23 and followed by the Asia Pacific Regional Volunteer Conference from Nov 24-26.

Meanwhile, IAVE network development manager, Ramona Dragomir said the conference could be a way of telling governments the steps they should undertake to develop volunteering infrastructure in their countries.

She said it was important for volunteering organisations to be part of the works of the government, and the IAVE conference could be the platform for the organisations to advocate their partners and authorities.

“We (volunteering organisations) must let them know that we actually matter because volunteering is about changing the attitude of communities, the country and the world.

“So, if we don’t have that kind of change and those people effecting change, then we don’t have a way forward and we don’t have development,” she added. — Bernama